Flash Fiction Anthology

The well

Being home alone, having all the flat to herself, was going to be fun, Helen decided. It did not happen very often; having two other flatmates did not leave many occasions for staying on one's own. And it did not happen once yet, since they moved to this house from the other side of the town, several weeks ago.

It was going to be a great, quiet and relaxing evening, she mused, watching the bag full of corn kernels turn around as they exploded noisily into popcorn inside the microwave, taking it out carefully, not wanting to scorch her fingers on the hot stream of steam issuing from a hole in the corner of the paper bag, mere seconds before it would burst open. A glass of wine poured from a chilled bottle opened previously by one of her flatmates, and she was ready for a Friday movie night.

And it was fun... until it got boring. Watching 'The ring' for the third time did not give her the right chills any longer, despite the eerie silence of the usually noisy and crowded flat.

She sighed, looking at her watch. It would be at least an hour before Jane would come back from her date, and even two before Jessica would finish her double shift in the hospital.

"Nox!" Helen called, heart pounding, when Jane's black cat jumped on her lap suddenly, then vanished somewhere again, hissing loudly, even as the television changed on its own to a different channel in that precise moment. "Silly cat!" She called into the silent semi-darkness of the empty apartment.

Only now, as whatever movie this was, was mute, Helen noticed how noisy the old house's silence was. She could hear the occasional soft crackling of wood settling in the ancient furniture, the low buzz of the fridge reaching her from the kitchen, the distant, muffled noise of the town's traffic, and the scraping of a tree branch against the window panes.

Helen watched its moving leaves for a moment before her eyes fell back to the television. There were people pulling something out of a well, it seemed. They were all wearing old fashioned clothes, making her think that it was a historical drama of some sort. Well, at least she had not seen this one before.

But as she settled more comfortably on the sofa, she realised that there did not seem to be a plot to speak of, the film looked more like a piece of news, showing a group of people who just found... a dead body in a well... But... Why were they dressed in Victorian clothes? She shivered, realising that the house in the background of the footage looked too much like this house... No way she could not watch this alone, whatever it was.

Helen switched the television off fast, the hair on her forearms standing on ends. So much for a peaceful Friday movie night. She stood up, ready to escape into her bed and forget all about what she had seen, when something moved under her feet, making her scream when a sharp pain in her foot and furious hissing followed.

"Nox! Get lost!" She called at the cat she could not see in the ill-lit room, the only light coming from a small reading lamp placed on a coffee table next to the sofa.

She went to the bathroom quickly to clean her bleeding wound and brush her teeth, avoiding looking in the mirror. She knew it was ridiculous, but she hated looking in mirrors after watching or reading scary things.

"This was the last time," she promised to herself as she laid down in her bed, turning her night light on, sure that she was in for a sleepless night.

Helen tossed and turned for a long while, listening to the moans of the old building before she realised that she was not going to fall asleep. She grabbed her phone from her bedside table, checking for messages from her two friends, but there were none.

Sighing, knowing that it would definitely not help her sleep but unable to stop herself, she googled the name of their road. She looked through several pictures of well preserved Victorian houses until she recognized the one she was in, remembering that one of the reasons why she was attracted to it from the first moment, apart from its convenient location and price, was its name.